Na'aman River, ( he, נחל נעמן, Nahal Na'aman; ar, نهر النعامين, Nahr Na'mein), is a stream in northwestern

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

. To the ancient writers

Pliny Pliny may refer to: People * Pliny the Elder (23–79 CE), ancient Roman nobleman, scientist, historian, and author of ''Naturalis Historia'' (''Pliny's Natural History'') * Pliny the Younger (died 113), ancient Roman statesman, orator, w ...

Tacitus Publius Cornelius Tacitus, known simply as Tacitus ( , ; – ), was a Roman historian and politician. Tacitus is widely regarded as one of the greatest Roman historiography, Roman historians by modern scholars. The surviving portions of his t ...

and

Josephus Flavius Josephus (; grc-gre, Ἰώσηπος, ; 37 – 100) was a first-century Romano-Jewish historian and military leader, best known for ''The Jewish War'', who was born in Jerusalem—then part of Roman Judea—to a father of priestly d ...

it was known as the Belus or Belos River of

Phoenicia Phoenicia () was an ancient thalassocratic civilization originating in the Levant region of the eastern Mediterranean, primarily located in modern Lebanon. The territory of the Phoenician city-states extended and shrank throughout their histor ...

. The Na'aman River today originates from springs near

Ein Afek The Ein Afek Nature Reserve (also En Afek, En Afeq, Ain Afek) is a nature reserve in the Acre Valley within the Zvulun Valley, Israel. It covers the swamps and springs at the source of the Na'aman River, as well as the Tel Afek archaeological sit ...

, primarily Ein Nymphit, and flows through the Zebulun Valley from south to north, before emptying into the Bay of Haifa (formerly Bay of Acre) south of Acre (Akko) on the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the ea ...

History

Once known as Belus or Belos, the river is mentioned by

Isidore of Seville Isidore of Seville ( la, Isidorus Hispalensis; c. 560 – 4 April 636) was a Spanish scholar, theologian, and archbishop of Seville. He is widely regarded, in the words of 19th-century historian Montalembert, as "the last scholar of ...

. According to the legend, this is where

glass-making Glass production involves two main methods – the float glass process that produces sheet glass, and glassblowing that produces bottles and other containers. It has been done in a variety of ways during the history of glass. Glass container ...

was invented.

also mentions glassmaking at the Belus.

Pliny the Elder Gaius Plinius Secundus (AD 23/2479), called Pliny the Elder (), was a Roman author, naturalist and natural philosopher, and naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and a friend of the emperor Vespasian. He wrote the encyclopedic '' ...

('' Natural History'', 5.19), using the name 'Pacida', mentions that the river flowed from Lake Cendevia (now below

Mount Carmel Mount Carmel ( he, הַר הַכַּרְמֶל, Har haKarmel; ar, جبل الكرمل, Jabal al-Karmil), also known in Arabic as Mount Mar Elias ( ar, link=no, جبل مار إلياس, Jabal Mār Ilyās, lit=Mount Saint Elias/Elijah), is a c ...

) for to the sea near "Ptolemais Ace" (

Acre, Israel Acre ( ), known locally as Akko ( he, עַכּוֹ, ''ʻAkō'') or Akka ( ar, عكّا, ''ʻAkkā''), is a city in the coastal plain region of the Northern District of Israel. The city occupies an important location, sitting in a natural harb ...

), and that it was celebrated for its vitreous sands. The name is based on ''

Baal Baal (), or Baal,; phn, , baʿl; hbo, , baʿal, ). ( ''baʿal'') was a title and honorific meaning "owner", "lord" in the Northwest Semitic languages spoken in the Levant during Ancient Near East, antiquity. From its use among people, it cam ...

''.

PikiWiki Israel 13847 Cruising in Naaman

Wetlands

The

En Afek Nature Reserve The Ein Afek Nature Reserve (also En Afek, En Afeq, Ain Afek) is a nature reserve in the Acre Valley within the Zvulun Valley, Israel. It covers the swamps and springs at the source of the Na'aman River, as well as the Tel Afek archaeological si ...

near the Haifa Bay suburb of

Kiryat Bialik Kiryat Bialik ( he, קִרְייַת בְּיַאלִיק, also Qiryat Bialik) is a city in the Haifa District in Israel. It is one of the five Krayot suburbs to the north of Haifa. In it had a population of . The city was named after the poet H ...

, is the last remnant of the Nahal Na'aman wetlands."En Afek Nature Reserve"
/ref>

References

{{Coord, 32, 52, 37.56, N, 35, 6, 23.9, E, display=title Rivers of Israel